Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Chocolate Bunny Dilemma


Our kids don't usually specifically ask for items during traditional "gift" holidays like Christmas and Easter. I think the main reason is that we stress the REAL reason for the holidays and not the consumer-driven aspects of them. We still get them a little something and have some fun with it, but they've never made a point to ask for anything.
A few days ago, though, Goober and I were talking and Easter came up. He got a wistful look on his face and shared that he'd like to have a chocolate bunny in his Easter basket like other kids get. In the past, we've filled their eggs with small toys, dried fruit, little crackers and a little bit of peanut/tree-nut free candy. They have never gotten the requisite chocolate bunnies because I have never found one that isn't nut-contaminated. Since we don't have cable and they're home-schooled, they're not as influenced by society as other kids, and don't really know what IS "normal" from a materialistic consumer standpoint- which was fine with us! I had wondered, however, if that would change as they got older and more observant.
I've been thinking on it for a few days and went to a website that specializes in nut-free chocolates. I got to the chocolate bunnies and almost fell out of my chair. A five-ounce bunny STARTS at $8.95 and the ten-ounce starts at $14.95. With shipping, the 10 oz. would be $22. Now, I love my kids to death, but $22 for a chocolate bunny?! Don't think so. For that price, I wouldn't let my kid eat it, I'd have it appraised, insured, frame it, and hang it on the wall.
As I sat there wondering how they're still in business, I started thinking... "it's just molded chocolate, if I just had a mold and a few bags of Hershey's milk chocolate chips, I could do it myself for a fraction of the cost...". I checked Amazon for molds and sure enough, a 5 oz. bunny mold runs about $2. Now we're talking. I also saw one for those little chocolate eggs- the pastel foil-wrapped ones? I went ahead and got that one, too. It should arrive in the next day or so and I plan to do one mold a night until I have one for each child and a little handful of eggs for each of them. That will make up the bulk of their candy as we're not fans of letting them have a ton of sugar, but I'm sure that having "real chocolate bunnies" in their baskets, they won't even notice the lack of jelly beans.

1 comment:

  1. I miss the little candy/craft shop here- they had wonderful molds. I am glad you found a reasonable mold. Adli here has reasonable candies.

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